Paris at a Certain Age

Food Festival, French-style

Many thanks to the blog Why Travel to France for alerting us to the Salon Saveurs des Plaisirs Gourmands, an expo of regional French gourmet foods. This event takes place twice a year, in May and in December. Fortunately we were able to arrive shortly after it opened on Friday and avoid the expected weekend crowds. Folks came prepared with their shopping trolleys, called poussettes de marché, in order to haul away their bounty.

It was like Bon Marché’s Grande Épicerie crossed with a neighborhood marché, times ten. I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the vendors represented relatively small concerns, many obviously mom-and-pop with their teenage children helping out alongside in the booths. They were quick to inform you of the special qualities imparted by their local terroir. Some were dressed in traditional costumes and many had photo displays of their farms.

It was such a joy to stroll past hundreds of booths, traveling from an enormous display of spices and herbs to a fragrant bread stand to a booth piled high with sausages and cheeses and then on to a wine tasting display next door. The aromas were intoxicating; luckily there were plenty of free samples. What a wonderful introduction to the Région hautes-pyrénées, Région tarn and Région
var!

My favorite area in the expo included the products of Île de Noirmoutier, a 20 kilometer long island on the French Atlantic coast that was an early monastic settlement in the seventh century. The island’s agricultural co-op had a restaurant in the expo where we had huitres (oysters) with bread and wine for lunch. You could taste and smell the ocean while eating the oysters and almost feel the sea breeze across your face. We bought some of the tiny potatoes that are native to the île, nicknamed "Potato Island".

There were ten to twenty different foie gras stands, with enough foie gras to cover the streets of Sonoma. And chocolate: oh, the chocolate! Take note that the loaves of pain au chocolat featured above were the size of rural mailboxes. And there were many macaron makers (not at all like macaroons). The French strawberries, gariguettes, have come into season and were in evidence at the expo. Earlier in our stay, locals had cautioned us against the large, fat ones appearing in the marchés, “They’re Spanish, no good. Wait for the gariguettes, those are the ones that really have taste!” We’ve learned to trust their recommendations.

Marché d’Aligre

We’ve defected from our local marché in the 10th arrondissement to the Marché d’Aligre in the 12th. It’s an old, quite historic market known for its good prices and high quality.

It grew up around the abbey of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs which dates back to the 12th century. Originally it was called the Petite Halle and leased to butchers until other vendors and hay merchants made inroads. A formal marché was created in 1781 and it sold a great deal of hay and straw for the horses of Paris. With the Revolution, the marché became property of the state. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was the second busiest market in Paris (after Les Halles).

There is an outdoor marché around Place d’Aligre. The Place and rue d’Aligre are crowded with stalls selling fruit and vegetables and flowers. The outdoor markets are run primarily by North Africans from Morocco, Tunesia and Algeria. Vendors call out “Un cadeau!” (a gift!) and “Un Kilo – un Euro!” (one kilo – one euro!) to the crowd and chat with each other in Arabic.

The covered marché, Beauvau, is a registered historical monument. Unlike the outdoor market, the stands here are more expensive and are not operated by North Africans. There is an old fountain inside, used to wash down and clean up when the market closes. Inside you’ll find meat, poultry, fish, cheese and prepared products.

Walking to and from the marché on weekends, you pass a delightful little park, Square Trousseau, with a children’s playground, bandstand, ping-pong tables and benches to sit amidst the foliage. Patisseries and boulangeries are conveniently located on the street lining the square and it’s a lovely place to eat a croissant and watch the children playing.

There is a flea market near the end of rue d’Aligre, operated mostly on weekends. We found cute little leather wallets there for 2 euros. Rue d’Aligre is also a street of traditional little shops with high end a high end cheese shop and a foi gras merchant.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the best 'added attraction' of Marché d’Aligre!